Welcome back

The Wachusett Regional School District returns to session on Wednesday, with students and teachers launching into a new year with plenty of challenges ahead.

Some of those are annual in nature, like the ongoing balancing act of improving MCAS scores while keeping students engaged in the classroom.

There are plenty of practical concerns as well: the need to forge a budget for the following year as the money pool contracts, the prospect of hefty bills from the oil spill cleanup at the district office, and the passion play that is the (still uncompleted) Wachusett Regional High School expansion/renovation project. A deadline of October/November has been given, but construction deadlines at WRHS are as fluid as the Quinapoxet River.

Perhaps the added incentive this time is another deadline the district is facing: the contract they've entered into to turn over the modular classrooms to the Francis Parker Charter Essential School in Devens by October 31.

One thing worth getting excited about in a positive vein this year is the district-wide literacy initiative, which will have coaches working with elementary school teachers to enhance students' reading and writing skills. A high level of literacy is an important skill at any level, but it's absolutely essential in the lower grades where students develop the tools that will see them through the rest of their academic careers, and into the wider world.

The manner in which information is supplied to the public has gradually shifted to conform to new media. As younger generations become more accustomed to gleaning information from television, podcasts, and Instant Messaging dialogues, the skill of reading a periodical, a book, a newspaper begins to seem hopelessly old-school by comparison.

But the district, by instituting the literary initiative, is recognizing that the ability to put words and concepts together to express ideas, divine meaning and expand one's intellect never goes out of fashion.